Welcome to this week’s Language Blog Roundup, in which we bring you the highlights from our favorite language blogs and the latest in word news and culture.

We were saddened by the recent passing of Michael Cronan, a graphic designer and marketing executive who was behind the naming of TiVo and the Kindle. We had the pleasure of interviewing Michael and his wife and business partner, Karin Hibma, back in November. We will miss him.

In words of the year news, Lynneguist’s US to UK word of the year was wonk, “one who studies an issue or a topic thoroughly or excessively,” while her UK to US choice was bollocks, “which has a good AmE equivalent in bullshit.”

Word Spy picked nomophobia, “the fear of being without your mobile phone or without a cellular signal,” and for neologism of the year, Grexit, “the exit of Greece from the eurozone.”

Jen Doll counted us down to the big moment: the American Dialect Society’s word of the year, which was (drumroll please) hashtag. Or #hashtag we should say. Color Robert Lane Greene #unimpressed. For a great roundup of words of 2012, check out Alice Northover’s post at the OUP blog.

We rang in the New Year with Fritinancy’s word of the week, pre-drinking, “chugging cheap alcoholic drinks before heading out to a bar, club, or sporting event,” and John McIntyre’s different words for drunk. Meanwhile, Jen Doll looked ahead with words to banish in 2013.

In words of the week, Erin McKean noted never events, “the kind of mistake that should never happen in medicine”; missing fifth, “the continuing exodus of prime-age males from the labor force”; and flip, “a mixture of beer and spirit sweetened with sugar and heated with a hot iron.”

Word Spy spotted success theater, “posting images and stories designed to make others believe you are more successful than you really are”; AI-pocalypse, “a disaster caused by an advanced artificial intelligence”; and craftivism, “the use of crafts such as knitting to further political, social, or other activist causes.” Fritinancy looked at said-bookism, “a verb used in place of “said” – almost always a needless distraction.”